So my club has promotional pamphlets we give out at our first few events for new members. I went to the copy place everyone goes because one of our members works there. I ask for 60 copies of 2 pages (2 sided) folded and stapled into a booklet. I remember paying around $9 or so. It was under $10 because I feel bad whenever I pull out my credit card for charges under $10.
I thought 60 copies would last us 2 weeks but we ran out the first day, so I had to go back today. My friend wasn't working so I had to ask one of the less competent employees to help me. Too bad they couldn't figure out the machine either to set it on booklet mode so the owner came and watched them too. After a little experimentation they got it working.
So the owner explains to me that there's a $10 minimum charge because its an expensive machine and goes to tell me how it costs $7500. I grumble knowing that I paid $9 for 60 and this time I only asked for 20 copies because I wanted enough for tonight, hoping to find my friend some other day to make additional copies. I asked him how much it was for each booklet im making and he says 29 cents. Being a little slow I ask how many copies I can make from $10, so he hits up his calculator and struggles. That's when I'm like oh right so 10 = $2.90, so I might as well make around 30? He nods and says sure why not. Then he explains how he usually charges $15 but its usually $10.
After I'm done he says oh and then it's another 5.5 cents per page for the copy. The $10 was only a setup fee. I don't even think he knew it was $10 because I reminded him that he was charging me $10 already.
Anyways, so 30 booklets came out to $18.06. It's really just 2 pages folded down the middle and stapled. WTF. I was clearly pissed. Then again I get reimbursed by our club so I don't really care, but seriously....
I don't want to make racial generalizations but this guy was Indian, and something in me tells me that as Asians, we're cheap. I'm Chinese myself, and I know that when I hit up the cheaper Chinese copy place, they throw out numbers they pull out of their ass and just charge me whatever. I was kinda pissed that this guy obviously had no fixed pricing on these things but just made up #s as he went. I bet I could've made 50 copies and would charge me $10 setup fee still instead of $10 + 0.29, or he would just say it's $15 randomly. I mean you don't justify charging setup fees because you paid $7500 for a machine, or at least that's not what you tell the customer. You charge fees because it's laid out in the pricing structure, not because you feel you should. He kept talking about "Oh it's a service, we have to charge to make money." Ok, you're not charging to make money, and even if it is, that's not how you communicate to customers why pricing is the way it is. I would've liked it if he pointed at some sign or some sort of pricing sheet but none of that. It's all just out of his ass pricing.
Seeing that I was pissed he hits the 10% button and it comes out to like $16.39 or something. Then he starts explaining how all copy places will charge me $15 - $20 for a setup fee just to do this. I bet if the student employees figured the machine out on their own they would've charged me a lot less.
I'm just annoyed.
I'm guessing my friend just charged me for the copies themselves and not using the booklet making feature of the machine and then threw in a few 10% offs and that's how I made 60 booklets for $9. I remember the last time we made 350 booklets for around $50, and now I'm getting charged $16 for 30. Ugh.
So maybe copies are really just that expensive and my friend gives me really nice discounts. Oh well, it's not my $16 anyways, so I shouldn't worry.
I thought 60 copies would last us 2 weeks but we ran out the first day, so I had to go back today. My friend wasn't working so I had to ask one of the less competent employees to help me. Too bad they couldn't figure out the machine either to set it on booklet mode so the owner came and watched them too. After a little experimentation they got it working.
So the owner explains to me that there's a $10 minimum charge because its an expensive machine and goes to tell me how it costs $7500. I grumble knowing that I paid $9 for 60 and this time I only asked for 20 copies because I wanted enough for tonight, hoping to find my friend some other day to make additional copies. I asked him how much it was for each booklet im making and he says 29 cents. Being a little slow I ask how many copies I can make from $10, so he hits up his calculator and struggles. That's when I'm like oh right so 10 = $2.90, so I might as well make around 30? He nods and says sure why not. Then he explains how he usually charges $15 but its usually $10.
After I'm done he says oh and then it's another 5.5 cents per page for the copy. The $10 was only a setup fee. I don't even think he knew it was $10 because I reminded him that he was charging me $10 already.
Anyways, so 30 booklets came out to $18.06. It's really just 2 pages folded down the middle and stapled. WTF. I was clearly pissed. Then again I get reimbursed by our club so I don't really care, but seriously....
I don't want to make racial generalizations but this guy was Indian, and something in me tells me that as Asians, we're cheap. I'm Chinese myself, and I know that when I hit up the cheaper Chinese copy place, they throw out numbers they pull out of their ass and just charge me whatever. I was kinda pissed that this guy obviously had no fixed pricing on these things but just made up #s as he went. I bet I could've made 50 copies and would charge me $10 setup fee still instead of $10 + 0.29, or he would just say it's $15 randomly. I mean you don't justify charging setup fees because you paid $7500 for a machine, or at least that's not what you tell the customer. You charge fees because it's laid out in the pricing structure, not because you feel you should. He kept talking about "Oh it's a service, we have to charge to make money." Ok, you're not charging to make money, and even if it is, that's not how you communicate to customers why pricing is the way it is. I would've liked it if he pointed at some sign or some sort of pricing sheet but none of that. It's all just out of his ass pricing.
Seeing that I was pissed he hits the 10% button and it comes out to like $16.39 or something. Then he starts explaining how all copy places will charge me $15 - $20 for a setup fee just to do this. I bet if the student employees figured the machine out on their own they would've charged me a lot less.
I'm just annoyed.
I'm guessing my friend just charged me for the copies themselves and not using the booklet making feature of the machine and then threw in a few 10% offs and that's how I made 60 booklets for $9. I remember the last time we made 350 booklets for around $50, and now I'm getting charged $16 for 30. Ugh.
So maybe copies are really just that expensive and my friend gives me really nice discounts. Oh well, it's not my $16 anyways, so I shouldn't worry.
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